A Change in Heart
by anonwriter64
Summary: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round 5.


**Chaser 3:** (Pocket Dimension) Write about the things that could happen inside a 'space pocket' where the inside is bigger than the outside. Eg: Hermione's beaded bag (with extendable charms), a wizard's tent, a sphere that holds a small universe with a different set of physical laws, etc.

Prompts:

4\. (emotion) Determination

5\. (action) whistling

15\. (colour) Black

* * *

Black.

Complete darkness.

That was all Harry Potter could see as he sat up - groaning as he rubbed his eyes. Confusion clouded his mind as he realized he couldn't see anything, and then he remembered he didn't have his glasses.

"Here," A rough voice spoke, pushing Harry's glasses into his hand.

Harry muttered his thanks, pushing his glasses onto his eyes and blinking wearily, looking at his companion before sitting up in shock. "Malfoy?!"

* * *

"I remember going through the wall to the platform after Ron, but nothing after," Harry explained, laying on his back with his hands supporting his head.

This whole experience was quite disorienting. A pitch black room - completely pitch black. It looked as if there were no walls at all, but it felt like they were there.

Draco let out a long sigh, running his fingers through his normally pristine hair. "We're getting nowhere," he muttered.

"Trust me," Harry said with venom in his voice, glaring at the blonde. "_I know._"

* * *

"Have you ever heard of a room where you can't even see the walls?! This is ridiculous - there's not even a door!" Harry exclaimed, slamming his palms against the walls.

Draco laid on the floor facing down, his forehead against the back of his hands. "No."

Harry put his back to the wall and let his knees fold, slumping down and putting his head in his hands. "How long have I been awake?"

"Somewhere around 45 minutes."

"Bloody hell," He muttered under his breath.

Draco lifted his head, glaring at Harry, before letting out a deep breath and dropping his head back to the floor.

* * *

"That's what happened with Dobby?" Draco exclaimed, staring at the boy in shock. Harry nodded proudly.

Draco shook his head in disbelief. "My father told me that he didn't meet the Malfoy standards - that he just let him free."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, not quite."

* * *

Harry absently whistled a Muggle song he remembered hearing when he was younger - a Muggle song called, 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. Swaying his head back and forth, Harry thought happily about how he would always have music.

"SHUT UP!"

The whistling stopped, and although Draco never saw it, Harry pouted a little bit.

* * *

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Dumbledore's story about Voldemort returning," Draco asked hesitantly. "Is it true?"

Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't considered the fact that Draco might not know what happened in the graveyard that night. He had assumed Draco's Death Eater father had updated him.

"Yes," Harry admitted. "But none of the rumours that followed were true. Didn't you hear the truth from your father?"

A week ago, Draco would've reacted negatively to this question, but now something inside of him had changed. A fondness towards the Boy-Who-Lived had grown and he was too exhausted to get snarky.

"I didn't see my father all summer," Draco explained. "He was off… well, you know."

Harry nodded understandingly. Even if Draco was a budding Death Eater, Harry held no negative feelings towards the blonde anymore. Draco was all he had left for the moment - they might have to die with each other. He didn't want to ruin that connection they'd built unnecessarily. "Okay."

* * *

It felt like it had been weeks - but Harry knew it had only been a day or two. It was a challenge just to guess. When they slept, they didn't know how long they slept for and there was no way to tell the time. Harry honestly thought that if Draco wasn't there, he wouldn't be sure if the room even existed - he would've thought he was going crazy.

Not that having him there was stopping him from going crazy. Draco and Harry clashed every which way they turned.

The situation was strange. Neither of them had any memory of an attack, they couldn't remember getting stunned or anything. They were just going about their normal business, and then - boom - they were in this room of nothingness.

"Where do you think we are?" Harry asked, earning a glare from Draco for ruining the silence. "I mean, any theories or anything? You're much more experienced in the wizarding world than I am - any guesses?"

Draco gave a small smirk, clearly happy that Harry had admitted that the blonde was superior to him in one way or another. The smirk dropped when he realized, he really didn't have an answer. "No, I have no idea."

"Wow," Harry started sarcastically. "The great Draco Malfoy doesn't have an answer to my question? The world must be ending."

A small snort came from Draco, and then silence returned to hang over the pair.

* * *

"I've never been this hungry in my life," Draco groaned.

Harry sent him a strange look. "Really?"

The blonde returned the look. "What do you mean? It's not as if you have either."

There was no response from the dark-haired boy, and Draco's gaze lingered before dropping to the floor. Thoughts of curiosity filled Draco's mind while Harry's mind filled with memories of the past.

* * *

After that question that received no answer, the amount of time that they were completely silent hit an all time record: 24 hours. At least that's what they both thought it was. It had definitely felt like a day for both of them.

"How long do you think it's been by now?" Draco asked, coughing a little bit to clear his throat.

There was no response for about thirty seconds as Harry thought about it. "Maybe 3 days?"

"We should make a plan," Draco said.

Harry looked over in surprise at the blond. "Seriously? You don't seem like the kind of person who would have hope in this kind of situation."

"Well, better to make a plan than sit here waiting for death," Draco explained, shrugging.

"Ok," Harry relented. "What's the plan?"

* * *

"And… go!" Draco shouted at Harry, signalling Harry to slam into the wall for the twelfth time.

Neither of them had any idea what to do. Their plan had been to try and find a hidden door by slamming into the wall in different locations - hoping to find an area that moves or breaks if they're lucky.

For the twelfth time, their experiment was a failure. It was a very small room, so they had pretty much covered all of the spots to hit.

Inwardly, Draco was snickering. At first, he had actually considered this plan, but at this point it was useless. Although, he would never deny that it wasn't funny to see Harry throw himself at a wall repeatedly.

Collapsing to the ground, Harry was gasping for air. Not only was he mentally and physically exhausted, but weak and thirsty. He sat in a heap with his head in his hands. When he finally recovered himself, he looked up to see Draco with a barely-concealed smirk on his face.

Harry shot him a glare. "It was your plan!" He exclaimed. "It's not my fault it didn't work!"

Draco's composure cracked, and he began snickering. Before he knew it, they were both bowled over with laughter. Neither of them would have dreamed up this situation in their wildest dreams a week ago. It was so ridiculously strange, even in the wizarding world.

Moments later, they both found themselves lying on the ground next to each other, talking. They both stared at the ceiling that didn't even seem to exist.

"Do you think we'll ever get out of here?" Harry asked, expecting a raw and honest answer from his companion. The answer he got was quite the opposite.

"No," Draco started sarcastically with a snort. "I think we're going to die here."

Harry remained silent, but turned to glare at the blonde. Draco didn't turn to meet his eyes, but snorted a little bit.

Turning his head back to the ceiling, Harry sighed loudly and let his eyes shut, drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

"What?!" Harry exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"No more plans - there's no way we're getting out of here," Draco said bluntly with a dry expression.

"What happened to the determined spirit you had yesterday?" Harry asked. He was stunned by Draco's change in demeanor. Draco raised an eyebrow as if questioning Harry - his actions the day before had hardly been determined. They were more out of boredom than anything.

Throwing his arms out in front of him, Harry cried, "For Merlin's sake, Malfoy! You have to have some hope!"

Draco shrugged. "Nope."

Harry stared at Draco for a minute with an exasperated expression in his eyes, before a look that Draco had seen in Harry's eyes many times came over the boy.

Determination. Stupid, bull-headed determination that made Draco want to roll his eyes before any words even came out of Harry's mouth.

"We're going to get out of here," Harry said with a confident look on his face as he sat across from his companion.

"Sure, we are," Draco responded sarcastically, but seeing Harry Potter with the same old confidence that he had always had lit a spark in his chest. Even if he would never admit it, Draco had hope.

* * *

The next few hours went by very quickly, and Draco couldn't help but be scared by that realization. Draco's fear was increasing just as quickly as time was passing, but it didn't seem as if Harry's sense of determination had faded at all.

Draco found himself struggling to get up, and eventually just stopped trying all together. He was weak and had never gone so long without food or water. He felt like he couldn't function. He felt like he was already dead.

Harry, on the other hand, was more alive than Draco had ever seen him. The fire in Harry's heart was stronger than ever, and it amazed Draco to no extent.

Watching someone thrive while you waste away was a strange experience that Draco wasn't enjoying, but he was happy that they both hadn't given up.

Harry tried everything; feeling along the walls, ceiling, and floor for any ridges that might reveal a hidden door or anything. Nothing came up. Nothing.

Not only were there no ridges - but the walls were perfectly smooth. No flaws, no bumps, no indents, no anything.

Draco couldn't imagine how a room like this could be made; but he was, after all, only a fifth year student.

_Well, _he thought bitterly, _I was going to be a fifth year student… I guess not anymore. _

Draco was sitting leaned against the wall while Harry searched desperately to no avail. The blonde just watched quietly, with a dull look.

"Harry," Draco said quietly, trying to catch the other boy's attention.

Harry responded without even glancing over at the blonde. "Yeah?"

"You should sit down."

Surprisingly enough, Harry sat down on the wall across from Draco. "What's up?" He asked, sensing something was wrong.

"I think we should just talk." Draco started, clearly hesitant. "We never got along before this, but now this whole thing is happening, we can never go back to being enemies if we get out, can we?"

A smile appeared on Harry's face. "What are you suggesting?"

"Friends?" Draco asked, offering his hand.

"Friends."

Harry took Draco's hand, but Harry couldn't resist himself. He snickered a little bit.

Draco sent him an odd look. "What?"

"Sorry, sorry," Harry apologized. "It's not you - it's just, I was wondering how Ron would react if he knew that Draco Malfoy and I were friends."

Draco's eyes widened, but within seconds, he found himself snickering too.

* * *

"Maybe if we try wandless magic?" Harry asked. At this point, he was just throwing out every idea that came into his head.

Draco pondered on it for a second, it wasn't the dumbest idea he had thought of so far. "Maybe if we tried it at the beginning, when we had our strength - we could have made it work out of sheer will. But now… I don't think it would work."

Harry nodded slowly, eyes focused on the wall in front of him. Draco could only guess how long his manic determination would last.

"We're going to get out here," Harry said. "We're going to get out of here." Harry seemed to be reassuring himself more than he was reassuring Draco. He was doing the opposite of reassuring Draco - he was making Draco think that Harry was losing it.

That small spark of hope that Draco had previously had completely disappeared as he watched Harry slump against the wall, repeating the phrase over and over again.

Draco would never admit it, but one tear left his eye as he watched the Boy-Who-Lived give up hope.

* * *

They went for hours without speaking, both of them had given up and were succumbing to their fate.

"Hey, Harry," Draco started, getting the boy's attention away from own thoughts. Draco had been itching to ask this question since it had first come up. "What did you mean when you were surprised that I had never gone a few days without food?"

Harry blinked owlishly at the blonde. He seemed to contemplate something for a few seconds before answering. "Well, I grew up with Muggles, as you know."

"Wait, seriously?" Draco asked, truly surprised. "I definitely didn't know that."

"Oh," Harry paused. "Well, now you know, I guess. I grew up with my aunt and uncle on my mum's side." Draco did nothing more than nod.

"They hated magic. I'm not sure why, but it's always been something that they've despised. When I was younger, they used to lock me in the cupboard under the stairs for days at a time without food for the smallest things. I did all the cooking and cleaning; I was basically treated as a house elf, it was awful." Harry explained, leaving no detail left unturned.

Draco was silent for several minutes, not acknowledging the nervous glances that Harry kept throwing him. "Cupboard under the stairs?" Draco muttered weakly.

"My bedroom until first year." Harry said quietly.

"Bloody hell."

"Yeah."

* * *

Less than 24 hours later, Draco and Harry could be found lying next to each other facing up to the ceiling, much like the position they had been in a few days before. Except now only Harry was conscious, staring at the ceiling with his haunting green eyes that were usually so full of life. Draco was unconscious, but alive, his chest only moving slightly.

Both boys looked incredibly gaunt and had an unhealthy sheen to their skin. They were very dehydrated and wouldn't make it much longer.

Harry took in a long, arduous breath, allowing his own eyes to shut, when suddenly, the ceiling opened up and a bright stream of light entered the room. "Hello?"

Jerking awake, Harry looked up, flinching at the sudden light. He went to speak, but ended up coughing into his arm before trying again. "H-hello?"

"Harry?" The voice asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it- it's me," Harry said, squinting as he tried to identify the person speaking was. As his eyes slowly began to make sense of what he was seeing, he saw a bundle of long red hair. "Ginny?"

Sudden laughter came out of her mouth. "Ron! Hermione, come over here! Harry's in here!"

Harry turned to Draco, shaking him quickly. Draco groaned and sat up slowly, not even acknowledging the light as he muttered, "What?"

The boy pointed upwards, and it took Draco a moment to register what was happening. "Weaslette?" He asked without even thinking about it, eyes widening as he slapped his hand over his mouth.

Ginny scowled at Draco as Ron and Hermione popped their head over the top as well. "Malfoy," Ginny sneered.

Draco groaned. He turned to Harry. "Well, we're off to a good start, aren't we?"

* * *

"A chest? Seriously?" Draco asked in shock. On the other hand, Harry was nodding in comprehension.

"Yeah," Harry started, pausing to take a sip of water from the bottle he had been given. "That's where Crouch Jr. kept Moody when he was impersonating him. Just a chest in his office."

"That's right," Hermione said, smiling at her friend, but the smile fell quickly. "But this year, we've been finding chests with pairs of students everywhere. Nobody knew they were taken until they were found. Death Eaters had been using the Polyjuice Potion."

Draco and Harry were shocked - they hadn't been targeted? It was just done randomly? "Who else was taken?" Harry asked.

"Oh, a bunch of people - Dean, Lavender, Susan - her aunt was furious when she heard about it - Pansy Parkinson. A lot more than that, for sure. Every house was targeted equally. The count was around 34 people? 36, if you count you two." Ginny answered.

Hermione nodded, but all three of them looked very unsure. "What?" Draco said, confusion clear in his voice and fear showing in his eyes. "What else aren't you telling us?"

"Well… How long were you and Harry in there?" Hermione asked, clearly hesitant.

Both boys looked at each other, before answering. "Maybe… five, six days?" Harry answered, not really sure whether or not the answer was correct.

Ginny looked uneasy. "It's been almost six months - it's the end of February."

Draco choked on his water, coughing into his sleeve. "What?!" Harry exclaimed in shock. "How could that be?"

"We think there might've been a time charm on the chest that made time go by much slower inside of it, nobody else's had that charm - that's why we were so relieved to see you two were ok." Hermione explained, looking down solemnly.

"Does that mean..?" Harry asked, fear in his eyes as he trailed off.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "Maybe there was a reason there was a charm on yours, but 36 have been found. 34 of them have been found dead."


End file.
